A Look at Nootropics Depot’s Purity Testing

Posted
on May 02, 2017

Put to the Test: A Closer Look at Nootropics
Depot’s Purity Testing

Nootropics offer an
expansive range of dietary supplements and compounds that may improve your
health and cognitive abilities. The near-infinite list of nootropics creates
countless options and combinations, but it can also make it difficult to find
quality compounds to add to your stack.

Once you find the dietary supplements or nootropic compounds suited for your individual body chemistry,
it is crucial to find quality versions of that dietary supplement or nootropic
compound. While the choices for nootropics are near-endless, not all nootropics
on the market are created equal. That’s where identity and purity testing comes
in. Identity refers to the idea that the sample being tested matches the
molecular structure in the chemical profile of the targeted compound. Purity
refers to how much of the target compound is present in the sample being
tested. While the concept of identity and purity testing seems simple, the
process encompasses various technical analytical techniques.

Nootropics Depot conducts
both in-house and third-party identity and purity testing to ensure the
authenticity and efficacy of ingredients found in each packaged dietary
supplement or nootropic compound. Nootropics Depot uses several methods of
analysis to test the purity of its products, including:

Fourier Transform
Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR)

Near-Infrared
Spectroscopy (NIRS)

Ultraviolet/Visible
Spectrophotometry

Proton Nuclear
Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (NMR)

Inductively
Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS)

High Performance
Liquid Chromatography (HPLC)

High Performance
thin layer chromatography (HPTLC)

Ultra-High
Performance Liquid Chromatography (UHPLC)

Gas Chromatography
(GC)

Melting Point

Titration

Polarimetry

The Importance of Purity Testing

While it’s smart to buy dietary
supplements or nootropic compounds that fit your budget, many nootropic sellers
offer deals that are often too good to be true. To make a profit at low prices,
companies have been known to cut corners or completely neglect chemical
analysis on their products. Impure and mislabeled products has been a rampant
problem in the world of dietary supplements and nootropic compounds. Vendors may be knowingly or unknowing offering
impure products. In fact, impure dietary supplements or nootropic compounds may
contain none of the ingredients listed on the label which could mean lower to
no efficacy and/or higher toxicity.

Some of these
questionable practices are easy to spot while some, like using questionable
methods, are harder for a customer to detect. Common red flags that convey
questionable identity and purity testing are vendors that sell their dietary
supplements and nootropic compounds without any certifications of analysis
(COAs) or falsify their COAs through:

Relying solely on the
manufacturer’s COAs

Using invalid
methods to mask impurities

Not testing every
batch and every container of received raw material

Relying solely on
one method of analysis

Relying on
superficial calculations for analysis

Analysis in Nootropic Depot’s
In-House Lab

Identity and purity testing ensures that
you’re truly getting the nootropic compounds or dietary supplements you want at
a fair price.

Nootropics Depot
routinely performs in-house testing on products conducted by a trained,
full-time analytical chemist while also partnering with third-parties, to
verify the percentages of active ingredients and species of plants used in all dietary supplements or nootropic compounds offered.

Utilizes US-based
third party labs for additional analysis when applicable

Documents all pertinent information relating to the
raw material testing, manufacturing process, storage conditions, and retesting
that corresponds to each packaged lot of product

Matching Nootropics to the
Appropriate Analysis Methods

Nootropics
can vary wildly through their physical appearance, taste, smell, methods of
synthesis/extraction, and chemical profile. Due to their differences, there is
not a single analysis protocol that applies to every nootropic compound or
dietary supplement. Some factors that need to be considered in choosing the
appropriate analysis methods are:

What contaminants,
excess solvents, or particulates may be present in the sample?

What process was
used to synthesize or derive the compound?

With
these considerations in mind, you can determine which methods are appropriate
to test your compound.

Understanding Spectroscopy

Understanding Chromatography

Developed by Russian
botanist Mikhail S. Tswett in the early 1900s, liquid chromatography allowed
for the separation of compounds in plants using solvents. In his first
applications of liquid chromatography, Tswett filled a glass column with
particles, particularly powdered chalk and alumina. He then poured a sample
comprising homogenized plant leaves and a pure solvent into the glass column.
As the sample passed through the particle matter, it presented different
colored bands, essentially separating the individual compounds of the sample
based on their chemical attraction to the particles.

Liquid chromatography has
since become a significant tool in analytical chemistry with various forms for
various applications. HPLC was originally coined by Professor Csaba Horvath in
1970 as high pressure liquid chromatography, defining the use of high pressure
to accommodate the sample’s flow in packed columns. The growth of technology
allowing for even greater pressures (up to 6,000 pounds per square inch) and
smaller particles eventually led to the switch to high performance liquid
chromatography.

HPLC allows scientists to
separate, identify, and quantify compounds in any sample that can be dissolved
in liquid. The ability to use HPLC is determined by numerous characteristics,
like the product’s polarity, solubility, isomers, chirality, ionic charge, and
particle size.

When HPLC is not an
option, other various forms of chromatography can be utilized. These options
include:

While spectroscopy and
chromatography are crucial steps in analysis, there may be other necessary
methods of analysis. Understanding and utilizing supplementary analysis tools
like melting point, titration, and polarimetry can provide further insight into
the identity and purity of a product.

Melting point is an easy,
fast, and repeatable method of analysis. Pure compounds have a temperature
range in which the solid state of the compound turns into its liquid
counterpart. A melting point temperature lower than that range signals an
impurity. A melting point temperature higher than the specified range questions
the identity of the compound.

Titration uses the
volumetric analysis of titrimetry to determine the concentration of a compound
in a solution. This quantitative analysis method is useful to determine ionic
concentrations, purity, and predict stability (shelf-life) of the
compound.

Polarimetry is applicable
when the optical activity of a compound is a concern. For example, there are
two versions of Theanine. The preferred version of Theanine is
L-Theanine rather than D-Theanine. The appropriate method of analysis to determine if the
Theanine sample was L-Theanine or D-Theanine would be polarimetry.

Conclusion

Identity and purity
testing is a crucial step in navigating the world of
nootropic compounds and dietary supplements. Finding a responsible vendor who invests in well-rounded
and valid testing is pertinent to your success and safety. Here at Nootropics Depot, we've built up a very sophisticated and capable analytical testing lab, and have spent a lot of time, effort and money ensuring we not only understand the analytical chemistry necessary to properly test things, but have the capabilities and training to be able to properly use the necessary equipment. For analytical methods or machinery that we do not currently possess, we contract out to extremely capable partners like Alkemist Labs and Mérieux NutriSciences, to ensure things are being analyzed using the proper methods, with accurate and repeatable results. We pride ourselves on our efforts to advance the analytical side of the nootropics and supplement market, and we are only getting started. Together we can advance the standards in the entire industry, and ensure that consumers are getting the highest quality products possible.

If you are just getting started, consider trying
samples prior to purchasing a full-sized jar as well so that you can find the products that work best for you.